Agriculture

Objectives
 Identify locations & timeframe of location of agricultural
development.
 Associate different types of agricultural practices with
different regions.
 Identify regions of agricultural surplus and deficits.
 Evaluate how food production has changed in the US
and associated problems.
 Analyze benefits/challenges of sustainable agriculture.
Agriculture as Employment
 Until recently, agriculture employed highest % of
people.
 Today, approx. 35% of the world’s population works
in agriculture.
 Why are less people working in agriculture?
Kshs.org
Agricultural Revolutions
 1st Revolution – 11,000 years ago, various locations,
domestication of plants and animals
 2nd Revolution – New agricultural technologies:
curved metal plate for the moldboard plow; horsecollar; seed drill; New practices: crop rotation
 3rd Revolution – Significant mechanization
(tractors), reliance on irrigation, chemicals, and use
of agro-biotech. Scientific farming. Shift to
monoculture
Agricultural Origins
1st Agricultural Revolution
 10,000 years ago: Southwest Asia – barley, wheat,
lentils, olives
 Over 10,000 years ago: East Asia – rice, millet
 8,000 years ago: Central Africa – yams, sorghum,
millet(?), rice(?)
 4,000-5,000 years ago – Latin America – beans,
potato, cotton
 North America- squash, corn
Green Revolutions
 Increasing Productivity – Green Revolution of the 1965-80s
brought high yield seeds and fertilizers to developing
countries
 Based in the public sector
 Nerica Rice Video-
USAID
Gates Foundation
Green Revolution Challenges
 Yields have begun to level off
 Increasing debt of farmers
 Environmental consequences
Gene Revolution
 Private companies participate and control research &
development, genetic engineering, and intellectual property
rights associated with specific crops.
 Represents involvement of businesses (especially
multinational ones) in agricultural along with patenting of life.
Gene Revolution Issues
 Corporate involvement with food
 Patents – both on technology and the seed
 Terminator seeds
 Genetic engineering – genetically modified
organisms
 Labeling
Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture
 Subsistence agriculture – production of food for
family’s survival; limited purchased inputs/outputs.
 Commercial agriculture – production of food for
sale; relies on purchased inputs.
 The difference between the two centers on the
purpose of farming, % of farmers in the labor force,
use of machinery, farm size, and relationship of
farming to other businesses.
Comparing Agricultural Systems
Subsistence
Commercial
Farm Size
Agricultural Activity
Scale of Consumption ( who
is production for?)
Land Tenure (who owns the
land)
Purchased Inputs (fertilizer,
pesticides, seeds)
Contract Farming
Vertical integration
(businesses @ diff. stages
merge
Proportion of Output Sold
General Pattern: Surplus of food in MDCs and deficit in LDCs
Mapping Agricultural
Regions
Farming In LDCs
 Shifting Cultivation
 Pastoralism
 Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
 Wet rice farming (also smallholder)
 Smallholder crop and livestock farming
Agriculture in MDCs
 Commercial agriculture
 Plantation
 Commercial gardening
 Mediterranean agriculture
 Commercial dairy farming
 Mixed crop and livestock farming
 Grain farming
 Livestock ranching
Agriculture’s Environmental Challenges
Human impacts on the environment through agricultural
practices include:
 Desertification – Creation of desert-like environments in non-
desert areas
 Overgrazing/crop mismanagement Desertification erodes Mongolian
Livelihoods
 Salinization – Accumulation of salts in the soil
 Typically where evaporation rates are high
 Overuse of water – aquifer depletion
 Impact of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, surplus of nitrogen,
etc.
Alternatives to Commercial Farming
 Managing Environmental Impact
 Sustainable Agriculture – preserves and
enhances environmental quality while
maintaining profits.
 Manage land carefully –contour plowing, strip
cropping, filter/buffer strips, no-till farming,
crop rotation!
 Conserve water
 Limit chemical use
 Integrate crops and livestock

Organic agriculture – promotes sustainability,
biodiversity, reliance on natural inputs and
processes
 What challenges are there with sustainable
agriculture?
Global Restructuring of Agricultural Systems
 Globalized Agriculture – system of food production increasingly
dependent on the global economy and international regulation.
 Agriculture is just one part of the food chain:
Inputs > production > outputs > distribution > consumption
 With four mediating factors:
 The state, international trade, distribution, and consumption
Globalization and Agriculture
 Impact of global integration
 How does a small, developing country compete with economic
superpowers?
 WTO’s efforts and pressure to take on structural adjustment programs =
push to remove trade barriers
 Inability of LDCs to offer farmers competitive subsidies = uneven ability
to compete in the global market.

Also, developed countries may buy from their own farmers and
donate/sell surplus abroad
Globalization and Agriculture
 Westernization of diets = nutrition transition
 Growth in meat, wheat-based, and convenience food
consumption.
 More fats and sugars
 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/05/26/sundayreview/26corn-ch.html?ref=sunday
Accessing Good Food in the USA
 Food Deserts
 low-income communities without ready access to healthy and
affordable food
 Goal – to improve access to good food to low income areas by
developing and equipping grocery stores, small retailers, corner
stores, and farmers markets with fresh and healthy food.
 Food Atlas
Global Food Crisis
 Global food crisis – World Bank Video
 Rising food costs and price fluctuations
 Increased food costs of 43% between 2007 and 2008
 Corn $ doubled
 Wheat reached highest price in 23 years
 Food protests in numerous countries
 Global Food Security Index
 What a Global Food Crisis Looks Like - Oxfam
Global Food Crisis
 Increased demand at same as we had a limited
supply
 Climate issues, droughts
 Increasing costs of energy and inputs
 Shift from agricultural production to biofuels
Items to Review

Why are less people working in agriculture?

What are the characteristics of the three agricultural revolutions?
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How do the Green and Gene Revolutions fit in here? How are they different and what are the major concerns
about them? What are benefits? Be able to describe what you learned in the clip about Nerica.

What are the differences between commercial and sustainable agriculture? What are examples of different
types of each? What factors brought about the commercialization of agriculture?

Be able to identify and explain the environmental problems associated with agriculture, and describe/identify
efforts to minimize these problems.
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Globalization of agriculture—describe it, the mediating factors, and the problems associated with it.

What are food deserts?
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What was the global food crisis and factors associated with it?
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Other terms to know: agribusiness, agro-biotech, biofuels, factory farms, feedlot, precision agriculture